♪ this week on "our world with black enterprise," eric bonet is back on the chart. then, we meet up with some of the top journalists to find out what's going on around the country. finally, we take a trip to the circus. that's what's going on on "our world" up next. [ stevie wonder's "i just called to say i love you" plays ] ♪ ♪ i just called ♪ to say i love you ♪ ♪ i just called ♪ to say how much i care

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welcome to "our world with black enterprise." i'm marc lamont hill. it was more than a decade ago that eric benet hit the scene with a solo album. i talk about his new album, his family and what he has in store for the future. ♪ ♪ don't you know we've got a real, real love ♪ >> i just finished with listening to "real love", downloaded it off of itunes and people are buzzing about it. >> i'm grateful.

>> how does it feel? >> it feels good when people are reacting and people are reacting, but this time it's rewarding. this time i own it. >> what do you mean you own it? >> for the first time in my career when i released a song, when i release an album, i actually owned the masters. all that music i made at warner brothers, warner brothers owns all that stuff. >> wow. >> the very first release of jordan house records is getting such a strong, strong reaction, it feels incredible. ♪ ♪ we've got such a real love, real love ♪ ♪ standing strong >> do you have a title for your album yet? >> yes, the title is "the one." >> okay. good. i was looking at what it's called, eric benet, i'm finally free or whatever. >> it's the one. i have been dreaming, wishing my

whole career to a, have my own label and b, release my own music on that label and this is the one. >> i like that. we'll be waiting for that. in addition to finding the one, the album, it seems like you found the one -- >> yeah, the one has a few meanings in my life right now. i'm incredibly blessed to have this amazing woman in my life. my wife. you know, in addition to my daughter india who is just amazing and -- in every possible way. >> she was on your last album. >> she was. yeah. good, good research. >> i'm a fan. i listen to your music. >> oh, thank you. thank you. she'll be on "the one", india and i will be on "the one." manuel and i had our first child, lucia bella is 7 weeks old. and just an amazing, perfect

creation. >> you talked about -- i don't know if you expected that response. >> it was a very interesting response, you know? just to let people know, it was -- manuel was breast-feeding. the picture from my perspective was very tasteful. because, "a," you couldn't see any nipple and you couldn't see all that much -- no more of the breast than you would see -- >> on a cheerleader at a football game or a rap video. >> exactly. exactly. but, you know, it rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. it's really sad that we have stigma. it seems more so in america about breast-feeding that it's offensive. so that was a very strange reaction. >> this is the second time around for fatherhood as well. you basically raised your daughter india by yourself. she was 2 when her mother -- >> she was almost 2. she was 15 months old. >> wow. >> it was the most horrific and

difficult thing that i have ever had to go through. but being a father has been the most rewarding and beautiful, you know, experience of my life. all the more reason why this time i'm, you know -- when india was born i was a kid. you know, i was -- when i was like in my early 20s i was really like 16. or 15. >> i understand, believe me. >> so i was really, really a kid. so this time around, you know, i have done some growing up and it feels wonderful to have the wisdom, to have the experience of being a father now and without the fear. so i'm just so excited to do it all over again. as many times as my wife will sign up for. >> this is also your second time around at marriage. >> it is. >> what's it like going through marriage the second time? >> i can only speak for my second time, and i would -- i would describe this time as not to paint it too fairy talish,

but it's really blissful. it's blissful this time around. >> you feel you weren't ready the first time? >> um, correct. i feel like -- i feel like neither one of us was ready for each other. yeah. and so i just feel like, you know, at this point in my life where -- i don't know. there's something that comes with wisdom and being in your 40s. i mean, when i was like 17, 18, 20 years old, i thought of being in my 40's, wow, that's over the hill. you're an old dude and life is almost over and now that i'm here, you know, the best part of life is really beginning. >> you're hitting your stride. >> yeah. you spend so much time -- speaking for myself, spending so much time in my 20s and 30s

trying to figure stuff out. in my 20s thinking i knew everything and in my 30s coming to the realization that i don't, and then in my 40s realizing it's okay that i don't know everything, because it's a journey of learning and being in the moment. >> what i like to call love, patience and time. write that down. >> wrote a song about that. >> do you think you could? >> let's work on that. >> let's work on that. so you talked to halle berwere berry, man. i'm sure you get this all the time. >> yeah, at least five times. >> you're married to halle berry, and how did that not work out? that was like a dream for most men. i don't know about halle, but the gap between what we imagine relationships to be like and in real life. >> i think the answer to that comes back to the whole wisdom

and maturity thing. relationships are difficult. the evolution of being a man takes a while for some of us. it took a while for me. so there's a lot of -- there's a lot of variables where, you know, undeniably she is arguably one of the most beautiful women in the world and doesn't always necessarily mean that a relationship is going to be rock solid because there's a whole lot of variables involved other than the external. ♪ ♪ real love real love ♪ yeah everything, everything ♪ up next a look at what's trending in our world. >> the evidence that i believe exists comes out, i want him to be convicted as guilty with the best legal representation he can

afford. >> "our world with black enterprise" is sponsored in part by -- [ benny ] alright, so me and mark were in the rav4, it was a rough day. got into a scuffle with the poodle across the street. it's a dog thing. anyway, mark decided we should flip the script and go on a road trip. so we picked up nina and headed north. as always the rav handled the journey like a dream. and we got to see something that would stay with us for the rest of our lives. i even forgot about the poodle. [ barks ] i love that day. it was one of my favs.

took hours to work or made me drowsy. after allegra, i have the only 24-hour medicine that's both fast and non-drowsy. after allegra, i have it all. welcome back. it's time for our reporters round table where we talk to some of the most influential journalists. joining me is a columnist for "the washington post." jeff johnson, msnbc political analyst and a contributor to the "today" show. perhaps the hottest thing trending right now is the trayvon martin controversy. what do you make of it? where do we go from here? >> as much as i'm concerned about this case, i'm concerned about it being the same thing that happens. less than six months ago with

troy davis you have people wearing the davis t-shirts and you don't have people talking about the death penalty. how can we create legitimate, substantive movement that comes out of the issues that are surrounding the trayvon piece? how can somebody be allowed to carry a gun when they have an assault against a police officer? all of these things that allowed the trayvon martin piece to happen are the pieces that i'm conaccepted about us dealing with as we're waiting for the trial to start. >> lola, for first two weeks, everything was on the same page about trayvon martin. we showed sympathy and then we returned to our normal lives again. suddenly, there was one side against the other. people were blaming trayvon. some people were beating up on zimmerman. what does it for us to have that kind of tension in the community? >> i don't want to say it's polarized the nation because i don't think it's that deep, but there are people who are pro zimmerman and there are people who are pro trayvon. those two between shall never meet. >> but the thing i can't get out of my mind is the fact that

there is a $204,000 check in george zimmerman's paypal account. what would make somebody write a check to george zimmerman? >> a lot of people think that it's along the racial lines, but i think it's well beyond that. i think it has a lot to do with stand your ground and people peeling that this -- feeling that this case is going to set a precedent for stand your ground. so gun laws and the right to bear arms and protect property, george zimmerman in some ways has become a poster child for that. >> i'm glad he got $200,000. >> you're glad he got $200,000? did you write a check? >> no, i didn't. >> are you sure? >> i'm glad he got $200,000 because if the evidence that i believe exists comes out, i want him to be convicted as guilty with the best legal representation he can afford. >> so here's the thing. what if he gets off? people are saying, oh, you know, it's the anniversary of the l.a. riots, this could happen again. do you think that black people will take to the streets if

zimmerman walks? >> that's a good question. i talked to rodney king a few days ago. you know, he's talking about the riots. he says he doesn't think that america will riot now as they did 20 years ago when the police were found not guilty of his assault on videotape. >> i think it's a totally different piece. if you remember the time then, there wasn't a lot of leadership out on the front of the rodney king case. i think that there was so much expectation because of this footage that these police officers were going to be convicted. that there was nobody doing proactive work to say if it doesn't happen, how do we remain calm? >> let me change the gears for a second. last week, you two in particular were at the white house. can you all talk about the stuff and what were you doing there? >> we were there with valerie jarrett and the head of the communications team. so it was a great conversation. one of the things that i think we can say is i got the sense that they're very committed to making sure that young people, women and people of color turn

out to the polls. >> well, i think the white house versus the campaign -- >> that's interesting. >> -- is interested in making sure that people are clear on what this administration has done. >> another thing that's happening in this election is that you begin to see the rise of all the black republican organizations that are committed to getting more black folk in the ranks and providing opposition to president obama. what do you all make of that? >> it's not new. i mean, anybody that's been working in presidential politics in particular has seen black republicans organizing. sometimes it's been with greater cooperation from the gop. i think in these teams it's with greater opposition from the gop. there's not a lot inside the gop that's welcoming black folks in a way that there might have been when gillespie was running the gop. so i think it's interesting. i think black folks have got to remember that, one, all of us are not democrats and that these black folks are concerned about the economy, they're concerned about issues. some of them even voted for president obama. >> but there is this perception that if you do not vote for

president obama, and you're black person, you're in some way a sellout. >> sure. >> a race traitor. >> a race traitor. you might as well be clarence thomas to them. >> if people, they look to 2008 and they see this grand campaign, you know, which was excellent run, then they see a presidency and then another grand campaign again. where they felt like he's a good campaigner and not a good president? >> i think it's a call to remembrance in some ways to say think about what we've been through together. i'm the same man that i was in 2008 and we have travelled this journey together. i think a lot of people are prone regardless of mistakes that have been made to stick with what they know. >> but i'll be very honest with you. i think that this campaign is really going to be more concerned with black women than black people. >> right. >> black women as a demographic turned out more for president obama than any demographic. and i think that what we're seeing the democrats do around messaging and women's rights and women and women's issues is

going to be interesting because i think there's a place there for some discourse which will energize black women specifically that i don't know if the campaign even really has the ability to do with. >> well, they have michelle obama, she's his best weapon. >> i have to ask you this, who is the person that mitt romney chooses to be his running mate? >> i don't know. >> condoleezza rice. without question. >> but she said she's not interested, right? >> but everybody says they're not interested. but to me, if there's an ideal candidate, she appeals to the old school republican base. she has a ton of credibility there. and she also i think has been so firm in what she believes that she'll appeal to some of the old school conservatives that romney is going to have a very difficult time exciting -- getting excited about his campaign. >> last week, vice president biden talked about the policy of walking softly and carrying a big stick. he then punctuated his address by saying and trust me,

president obama has a big stick. there was like an audible groan in the audience and people for the next two days in the is news cycle have been talking about how just mortifying that was. >> an audible groan and there was an also that's what she said. >> right. >> it has been a great time having you on. but i'm going to go now before i get in any more trouble. >> yes. >> thank you so much for being here. stay right there. we'll be back with more "our world with black enterprise." up next, how lions, tigers and bears help one man start a legacy. >> i never, never once did not believe that i couldn't do anything. impossible was never an option for me.

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for one man, juggling the obstacles of life took more than just walking a tight rope. he's our "slice of life." >> look at the screen for the magnificent, new york's very n own. >> it may be the fantasy of every little kid to run away and join the circus. >> i love the circus. >> when you kiss the lion, it was gross. >> jonathan lee iverson is living that dream. >> welcome to the greatest show on earth!

>> he's in the spotlight as the first african-american ringmaster at ringling brothers and barnum & bailey circus. >> you know, one of the things i always tell people about circus life and especially here at the greatest show on earth is you don't play a ringmaster. you don't play a trapeze artist, you don't play a daredevil. you are these things and everything you do in your personal life centers around what you're going to do later that night or three times on saturday. >> it was the chance of a lifetime that suddenly appeared just after he graduated college. >> this opportunity to be the ringmaster of the greatest show on effort was prefrnsented to m. it was history. i thought this is a great pickup line. ringmaster. >> i think i fell in love as soon as i saw him. it's not only the person, it's when he's on stage as a ringmaster he takes care of the

arena. he's so charismatic. yeah, he's amazing. but he's a great person too. >> jonathan's brazilian-born wife is a dancer and line captain with the show and they have two children and find the circus to be a wonderful and supportive home. >> the greatest thing about the greatest show on earth and really circus life in general is its emphasis on family. you have this marvelous opportunity to share this dynamic experience with your sons and daughters. i mean, can you imagine one week your backyard is hershey park, the next week it's the grand canyon. >> his own life was steeped in the arts but of a different kind. >> i started off with the world renowned boys choir of harlem when i was about 11 years old. that changed my life. we travelled all over the place. i mean, paris. you name it. we'd be on the greatest stages with the greatest artists in the world from stevie wonder to placido domingo. >> with the world as his stage, there was an important lesson to be learned at a very early age. >> my possibilities were just

endless. so i never, never once did not believe that i couldn't do anything and impossible was never an option for me. >> that confidence came in handy when jonathan got his chance to be part of history with the greatest show on earth. >> my grandfather reminded me, you know, he said, there was a time when i can sit anywhere and i'm seeing my grandson running this whole thing. that's cool. and i thought, man, that's when it really hit me and i really understood the magnitude of it all. you consider what the ringmaster is. i mean, as great as all of this talent is, i mean, we have people breaking wood over their bodies. bending metal rods with their throats, dancing on the backs of horses, hanging by their hair and none of it matters until the ringmaster says so. that's pretty hot. [ dollar ] that's me -- l50858544p. but i'm not just a number. i have a purpose -- a higher purpose.

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